


The Aftermath.

by Sceadugenga



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Don't Judge Me, Feels, Gen, Gritty, I Don't Even Know, My First Fanfic, Poor Sebastian, Put down that bottle Seb!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-25
Updated: 2015-08-07
Packaged: 2018-04-11 05:27:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4423112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sceadugenga/pseuds/Sceadugenga
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Seb finally emerged from Beacon, he had two choices. He had to choose the difficult one didn't he.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic, I'm not 100% sure where I'm going with this so I would like feedback, as the reception I get is going to determine whether I continue with this and fanfics in general lol. 
> 
> Please do leave a review if you think it's got something worth writing about :)

**Chapter 1 - The Aftermath.**

Some real fresh air. Taking a deep breath, with the rain falling on his face he finally felt alive. As he looked around he saw a figure far off in the distance. Was it him? It couldn’t be surely, he looked all wrong…

Suddenly, the ringing. As he clutched his head in agony he could’ve sworn that the figure was him, but as he looked up he wasn’t there. But as he didn’t get enough of a look to be sure, he dismissed it as his mind playing tricks on him. An EMT rushed up to him, speaking to him, putting a blanket around his shoulders. Leading him to the back of an ambulance to be checked. Everything is still ringing, a piercing sound that goes straight through his skull and makes his eyes water. Eventually, it subsides and the hubbub that surrounds begins to make its way into his head.

“Detective, are you okay? Can you hear me? Detective!”

The voice is concerned but full of authority and after his ordeal he is too tired and numb to do anything, is happy to be led and probed as the EMT does her thing. He stares at her badge with her name on it. Kiera. What a lovely name, he thinks. Suddenly, Kiera is pulling his face so that he looks her in the eyes;

“Detective Castellanos, talk to me. Are you in pain anywhere? You look like you’re hurting.”

He was hurting, Seb thought to himself. He was hurting more than he ever thought he could. He has had his left leg mauled by a chainsaw wielding maniac, been nearly choked numerous times by numerous enemies, has been burned, caught in bear traps, impaled, thrown around, grabbed by giant hands, shot, chased by countless nightmarish creatures, set alight and yet he is all in one piece. He looks at himself and expects blood to spurt forth but it doesn’t. There is nothing. He knows he should feel happy about this but he feels nothing. Just numb.

 

As Kiera continued to check Seb over, she could see that there was something wrong. Something deeper inside him that was haunting him. Who knew what he had seen and experienced in the hospital in the duration of time he had been inside? His eyes were what unsettled her the most – there was no light, no spark in them. Just empty, grey pits inside his head. As she finished checking his blood pressure she looked him once over for what must’ve been for the fifth time. No visible injuries to be seen, but Kiera knew that injuries didn’t have to be visible to be fatal. She just hoped this dark haired Detective would start speaking soon or she would get more scared of him than she already was.

 

Few things were running through Seb’s mind as he sat in the back of that ambulance. There were many things fighting to be at the forefront of his mind but the one thought that prevailed over all was the aching sadness over the absence of Joseph and Julie. Well, he should refer to her as Kidman as that is what she preferred but in his mind she was no longer Kidman as she was most likely dead. His mind drifted back to Joseph and what could’ve happened to him, but no answers sprang forth. All that resulted was a deep, aching feeling that made him feel sick to his stomach. How could he continue without Joseph? It was him who had stuck with him after Myra and Lily, after he had drowned himself countless times in a bottle of whiskey – even when he had reported him to IA Joseph still tried to care. It wasn’t his fault that Sebastian hadn’t let him in again. All Seb had done was throw up a huge wall that every time Joseph tried to climb over, Seb made it higher.

And now Joseph was gone, most likely dead as well. Sebastian’s world had truly collapsed around him. He processed all this silently, no expression on his face, no giveaway of the mental anguish he was going through. His mind kept on going back to that incident in the park, of that stray bullet that could’ve hit Sebastian but Joseph had jumped in front of it. For him. Why? All Seb could see was the crimson liquid bursting forth from Joseph’s chest as he landed on the ground. The water was rising inside Seb, and no matter how he tried the dam couldn’t hold it back. While Kiera was checking his pulse he erupted into tears and let out a heart wrenching sob that shook Seb to his very core. As the tears began to stream down his face he became aware of the EMT holding his head to her chest, stroking his head and telling him he was safe now. But none of that mattered, not to Seb. All he could think of was his partner and his wife and child, and they were the only three words he would say between sobs.

“Joseph… Myra… Lily…Why?!” He repeated, all the while clutching Kiera so tightly he was in danger of giving her a bear hug unlike any other she had received before. As his fingers dug into Kiera’s back he squeezed her tightly, afraid of what would happen if he let go. Eventually, the flood subsided and Seb stopped crying for a moment. He let go of Kiera and looked down at his feet sheeplishly, wiping his eyes with the backs of his hands.

“I’m so sorry about that… Kiera,is that your name? I’m sorry for that display, I dunno what came over me.”

Kiera looked at Seb with caring eyes and didn’t say anything back. Just held out her arms and let him rest his head against her chest again.

“It’s okay, I understand. I don’t know what you’ve been through but judging from the way things are out here it’s not nice at all in there. To be honest I am surprised you’re as unharmed as you are, you’re very lucky to not have  more serious injuries!”

“I suppose I just got lucky…”

Seb’s reply was muffled due to it being spoken through Kiera’s jacket, but he made no effort to move his head. He was just too damn tired. The events of the past however long had finally sunk in, and the fact that he was such a stoic individual meant that any display of emotion would tire him out, let alone something of that magnitude. He normally would be embarrassed at such an event but right now he couldn’t care less. He just wanted to sleep and sleep heavily. A bottle of single malt would see to that, Seb was sure of it. He just needed to get home.

Home. His shitty apartment that he had moved into after the fire, after he had lost his family. He had never thought that he would be so excited at the prospect of the place, of the warm shower and comfortable bed. With a great effort, he stood himself up.

“Thank you for that Kiera, I have to admit I feel slightly better now”.

She laughed out loud and looked at the Detective as he stood – shakily - in front of her. He was slightly good looking, especially for someone who had obviously been through some kind of hell. His eyes weren’t grey any more, which made her feel better.

“It’s no problem, this isn’t my first rodeo – but I have to say it’s the first time I’ve had a Detective break down on me! Now that I’ve checked you over, you might want to go and speak to the chief for a debrief.”

She indicated over to the right, in front of the hospital at the foot of the steps and sure enough there was the Chief Inspector Nick Jackman. After the disappearance of the previous CI Brown, his replacement had been pulled in from the ranks. Jackman had been in the force for as long as Seb could remember, and his grey hair and sunken eyes attested to that fact. He had only been promoted to CI because of his experience – he didn’t want the job, he had made that clear and was only taking on the role until they could find a more suitable permanent replacement from another force. It seemed that all of the good offices in KCPD were dead or missing and that there weren’t enough replacements to fill in the gaps. On seeing Seb look in his direction, Jackman dismissed the uniformed officer that was talking to him and walked over. Seb met him halfway so that they were alone – he could tell that the CI didn’t have good news.

“Okay, so it seems that whoever is responsible for this shit show is nowhere to be seen, they have well and truly vanished into thin air. I’ve got seven officers dead and counting, more mental patients dead than you can imagine, another missing, on top of that two detectives are missing and we aren’t finished yet. Please give me some good news Seb; tell me that you know what happened to Oda and Kidman!”

Jackman looked at Seb, expecting an answer. But what answer could Seb give? He last saw Joseph when they entered Beacon, last saw Kidman in what could’ve well been a dream state with all those shady suits around, for all he knew that was all part of the STEM and Kidman hadn’t even gone into the hospital in the first place – after all Seb had told her to wait outside! He racked his brain to try and think of an answer he could give Jackman but none came. Eventually, he spoke.

“Honestly Nick, I haven’t the faintest idea. They could still be in there or a thousand miles away. Neither of them were there when I woke up, truth be told I’m not sure of what happened in there and if they came out before me you would’ve found them right? If I knew anything you know I would tell you but I don’t.”

The lie hurt Seb, because he knew what had probably happened. Those people in suits had taken them – that is if they were real  - or Ruvik had taken them someplace else while Seb was still attached to the STEM. All Seb knew was that there were so many questions he had, and no answers to them. He knew that things weren’t over, that they had only just begun. He would find his partners and the truth if it was the last thing he did. He also had this feeling that everything was connected, that maybe Myra was still out there too. The thought of Myra being alive made Seb happy, because if he could find all three and get the truth behind the fire then he wouldn’t have any reason to ever sink back into a bottle again, would he? Or maybe he would. Seb didn’t need an excuse, not anymore.

As these thoughts raced through his head, Jackman walked back to the officer he had been speaking to previously. He then walked back to Seb clutching something in his arms.

“Hey, when the SWAT unit was clearing the lobby they found this in the Security room, figured you’d like to be reunited with it. It’s got something wicked on it but I think a wash will get it out. Go home Seb, we will call you when we need you for questioning.”

With that, he placed the bundle into Seb’s hands and walked up the steps into Beacon Mental Hospital, leaving Seb standing in the cold evening air clutching his trenchcoat. It had been a gift from Myra some time ago, and since events had started Seb hadn’t given it a second thought. But nevertheless he was comforted by its smell, by the feel of it on his body as he put it on and wrapped himself inside it. He walked over to a waiting patrol car that had its passenger door open – he knew that this was his lift home. He sank into the passenger seat and had his eyes shut before the door was closed behind him. Despite the fact he was tired, Seb didn’t sleep. His closed eyes hid a raging battle that was going on inside his head – the questions he had, the anger he had at Ruvik, Jimenez and whoever else was behind the events at Beacon – it all ran around inside his head and refused to let him rest. He was damn sure that he would get to the bottom of this if it was the last thing he ever did. After a short while the car stopped, and Seb knew he was home. Getting out of the patrol car and grunting his thanks to the officer driving, he retreated into the lobby of his apartment building.

His place was on the second floor, and he always hid a spare key on top of the doorframe out of sight. Tonight he had no need for that though, as he had his keys in the inside pocket of his trenchcoat. Unlocking the door, Seb walked into his home and shut the door behind him. After everything that had happened, Seb just stood on the mat for what felt like ages – it all seemed so fucked up, to go through things like that, experience that level of fear and terror to come home alive and unharmed at the end of it. He was half expecting the apartment to start attacking him, to have a barbed wire wrapped maniac run out of the bathroom screaming clutching a sickle, but nothing happened. Eventually he worked up the courage to step off the mat and get himself sorted. Hanging his coat on the hook by the door, he took his shoes off and kicked them to the side unceremoniously. He walked straight to the bathroom, stripping off as he went. He stank like shit, probably hadn’t showered in a while. He stripped completely naked and went to the sink. He looked in the mirror and the face that looked back wasn’t one he recognised as his own. 

The eyes were sunken and tired, with none of their usual shine that indicated any sign of life or love. His skin looked stretched tight across his skull, making his face look sharper and older than usual. Not that Seb was getting any younger, but the fact he looked so old nearly made him chuckle. But then he remembered who else looked like that.

His face was all burnt up, so his skin was stretched across his skull tightly. His eyes looked devoid of life, but they had an evil shine to them that could cut through glass. Seb began to feel himself sweat at the thought of that man’s face, reminding him of the things he had put Seb through. He looked down to wipe his face, and when he looked back in the mirror it wasn’t his face he saw.

Ruvik was staring back at him, no jacket on so his burns and scars were all the more visible, as was his glass side of his skull. And he was smiling. He looked Seb right in the eye with that cold, evil look and smiled at him. Seb jumped back, landing against the wall behind him and hitting his head. He clutched his head in agony and looked up in the mirror again – but Ruvik was gone, and all Seb could see was his own ghostly pale face, with a look of pure horror etched on its features. He looked at himself a while longer, expecting Ruvik to appear again but he didn’t. Once he was satisfied that Ruvik wasn’t going to be back to steal his face, he stepped into his walk in shower and turned up the heat as far as he could take it and put up the power as high as it would go.

He scrubbed himself hard, turning his skin pink with the effort of trying to wash away the recent events. He got shampoo in his eye when he was washing his hair but after the discomforts of Beacon it didn’t seem to bother him that much. He must’ve stood under the shower for a long time because the water stopped feeling hot to his skin. Eventually he turned off the shower and stepped out, drying himself with the nearest towel available to him. As he was drying his hair he caught a faint smell from the towel.

This must’ve been the towel he used to clean up the drink he split on the bathroom floor last week. He’d decided to have a bath and have a whiskey while he was at it – but his hands had been wet so he had dropped the glass, breaking it and spilling its amber contents all over the floor. Funny how he remembered that. Since the whole drama with Joseph and IA Seb had really, really tried to cut down on the drink. For his sake as much as Josephs and the force. Truthfully, for the most part it _had_ worked but he did like a glass or four of an evening. Then again who didn’t? That’s how Seb justified it in his head anyway. He debated whether or not to go and pour himself a glass now, or maybe just grab the bottle – but he was so tired that he didn’t see the point in wasting the energy going to get a bottle that was basically empty anyway – for a half full one maybe he could stretch to it but nothing less. He got into some slacks and an old baggy motorhead t-shirt from his gym pile and pulled it on. He sank into bed within seconds, his body almost in shock from the sudden comfort and gentle touch of his bed compared to the treatment it had been used to of late. He was so tired… but sleep wouldn’t come.

In the back of his mind Seb was still panicking about the darkness, what loomed there and what could jump out at him at any second. He wasn’t usually someone to be scared of shadows but the events at Beacon had really fucked with his head. Twisting reality, being inside someone else’s mind while connected up with other people… None of it made any fucking sense. What had happened to Joseph and Kidman? Had he killed Connelly in the STEM or had he been caught by Ruvik at a later date? Why did the ‘organisation’ cut Ruvik up and let him be the virtual god of their machine anyway? Surely they could tell he was a fucking lunatic? All of this and more was spinning round in Seb’s head but he wasn’t any closer to finding any answers. Not here lying in bed he wasn’t anyway.

Between all of the questions he had and all of the vivid flashbacks that were looping in front of his eyes, he knew sleep wouldn’t come anytime soon.

‘Might as well use the time to process what the fuck actually happened then, huh?’ Seb muttered to himself.

Reaching into his bedside drawer, he got out a notebook and pen and just began writing. Everything that he could remember about Ruvik, what had happened inside the STEM and to who, all of his theories why were jotted down in this notebook. His hand was flying across the paper, writing so quickly he was getting ink stains all over his palm but he didn’t stop. He just wrote and wrote and wrote until his hand cramped up so badly that he had to stop. He used the time to review what he had written. One word kept on repeating itself over and over again, especially where Ruvik was concerned. Mansion. Mansion. Mansion mansion mansion. Everything about Ruvik that he knew could all be linked back to the mansion and its surrounding area. And Seb knew that the best place for him to get answers from about everything else would likely be there too, as Ruvik probably had hidden his files someplace deep inside the bowels of the place. As he had suspected that he was going to be betrayed by Jimenez it only made sense for him to store some kind of bailout or failsafe in a secret place. What place more secret than his family home? Seb hesitated for a moment - Beacon also would be the perfect place to store said items – but the thought of going back in there made Seb’s hair stand on end, let alone the fact that by now the Feds would be all over it, plus whoever or whatever the organisation was would probably be keeping an eye on him. Seb smelt a deep, dark web of conspiracy and corruption and he was going to make sure he wasn’t caught in it. If he wanted his answers then he would have to do this one off the books, on his own time and in secret. He knew deep down that Myra was the fire were linked somehow, to someone. They had to be! The thought of finally getting some closure on the events surrounding Myra’s disappearance and the fire that had claimed his daughter gave Seb some hope.

Something that he hadn’t felt for a long time, since long before Beacon and the STEM and the fire. It felt like a lifetime ago but in reality it was no more than three or four years since Seb had held Lily in his arms and fallen asleep next to Myra in their wonderful home. Three or four years since he had a normal life. The memories than began to wash over Seb were too much for him to bear at the moment, so he made a conscious effort to shut them out so he could focus on thinking about the here and now. He began to write again, detailing what he would do and when. He would go to the mansion first thing tomorrow? No, too soon after Beacon to be going around asking questions. Surely it would be being watched and if some shady ass guy turns up in Elk River asking about the burned out family mansion alarm bells will ring for someone somewhere. And that means attention. Attention is the last thing Seb would want attached to him right now. When the media shit hits the fan he would get enough attention to last a fucking lifetime! Plus, he was feeling pretty rough right now. The voice of reason told Seb to take a few days to rest and get his shit together before he did anything else. Now THAT was advice he could take. Satisfied with himself, he stopped writing and got more comfortable in bed.

‘What is this shitstorm you are walking into, Castellanos?’ he asked the empty air -`as if he expected an answer. After listening to the silence for a few moments, Seb began to genuinely feel sleepy. Tomorrow he would figure out more. Tomorrow he would take his first steps in taking back control of his life. He shut his eyes and straightaway fell asleep, still clutching the pen and notebook in his hands.


	2. Searching for Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, Seb has decided to delve for answers. Completely unaware of the nightmare he will walk into, he is intent on one thing and one thing only - to find the truth, no matter what the cost... or whatever he may have to do.

**Chapter 2 - Searching for answers.**

 

“Fuck, nooooooooo! NOOOOO! LILY!”

Seb woke up sweating, heart pounding. He had been dreaming about the fire again. He and Myra had raced to the scene, got out of the car and ran toward the door. As they had got onto the front porch the doorway had collapsed, blocking their only way into the house. They could hear Lily and Juanita screaming but there was nothing they could do – Seb had tried to claw through the wreckage in a futile attempt to get them both out but all he had done was burnt his hands. Myra had grabbed him and pulled him back and was screaming and crying, both at him and the world but Seb wasn’t hearing anything. All he could hear were Lily’s screams. And the smell. Fuck. THE SMELL. He could smell them both burning alive, smell their home going up in flames; everything that him and Myra had built together all gone in a few fucking heartbeats.

This was one of the main reasons Seb had started drinking, but it had only got worse after Myra had disappeared. In moments like this he wondered why he even bothered living. He was shaking like a crack whore, sweating like a pig and felt so sick that he was sure he would throw up at any moment. Fuck, was this a panic attack?

‘Calm yourself Seb’ he told himself. ‘It’s just a damn dream, that shit is in the past and it’s going to stay there. Get your breathing under control and take it from there. Calm now.’

After what felt like an eternity, he got his breathing under control and began to feel a semblance of calm. After a few more minutes the panic had gone – but the dream was still looping around in his head.

‘Fuck this, I need a drink’ he muttered to himself. There was a 24/7 not too far away, he would get himself dressed and go get a bottle. He got himself out of bed slowly, still feeling the aches and pains from being stuck in that tub in the STEM and got dressed. Well if sweatpants, the same motorhead t-shirt and black hoodie counts as dressed. He grabbed his phone and wallet off the kitchen side and headed out, grabbing his keys from his coat as he went. Slipping on some converse and locking the door behind him he wandered slowly down to the 24/7. It went without incident, the guy behind the counter looked as bad as Seb if not worse so he didn’t give him any trouble. One time he had refused to serve Seb because he had been wasted and Seb had got a bit mouthy. Thank fuck the guy didn’t know he was a detective! Sure enough he would though, once the gagging order got lifted on Beacon. Seb didn’t intend on being around for that though.

He got home, unlocked the door and grabbed a glass out of the cabinet. Slumping on the sofa with late night TV sounded like a great idea. Turning the TV on, he poured himself a generous glass and downed it in one. Another one down the hatch, and a few real life cop shows later Seb was snoring on the sofa quite happily, not looking like a man who had just spent an undeterminable length of time trapped inside a lunatics head.

He woke up with the sun in his eyes through the double glass windows that looked out onto the street and into his apartment. Hungry, he didn’t even bother cooking – just went and ordered some take out. He didn’t care that it was 11AM, he wanted a pizza. Once the delivery guy had been and gone Seb found himself back on the sofa, but without the glass in hand. Instead he had his notebook and pen. What was missing? Ah yes. Coffee. He went to the kitchen and turned on the coffee machine, an heirloom from when Myra was still around. Seb had not been bothered about drinking burnt cheap-ass coffee from the station vending machine but when Myra moved in she had exposed him to the ‘ways of the coffee machine’ and he hadn’t looked back. Still sealed fresh Colombian beans were sitting in the cupboard so into the machine they went. A few minutes later, Seb was back on the sofa with a steaming hot mug of Columbian roast and a case to solve. It felt strangely good knowing that he had a goal, even if it probably was outside the bounds of the law and government in general. Seb had never been too bothered about pushing boundaries to get results but this… this was something different. It was personal and he would get to the bottom of it or fucking die trying!

He wasn’t just doing this because he wanted answers though. He knew that he had to keep busy, so that he could try and process what had actually happened without it overloading his brain altogether. Seb was a strong person but he knew that he could crack. But he wasn’t going to let this beat him, he knew that much. He continued to write and expand his plan, all the while thinking of the people who he had lost. Myra. Lily. Joseph. Kidman. Connelly. All connected by one man.

He was going to get his answers from the wreckage of the Victoriano Estate no matter what or who stood in his way.

 

The next week went by in the same pattern – wake up, drink coffee, eat, plan, watch TV. Plan more. Smoke lots. Drink lots. Eat. Shower. Sleep.

The dreams were still there but Seb thought he was coping remarkably well. Ruvik was in his head every night in one way or another; the memories of the torture he had inflicted upon him via the STEM forcing Seb to wake up shaking or crying, sometimes both. But Seb wasn’t a wreck, he told himself whenever he had a bad dream that it was just that. The panic attacks got easier to deal with too, and by the sixth night they weren’t even that bad. Was he really this strong or was there something waiting to surface? He didn’t want to think about it, the momentum he had going was really good and he knew it would get him somewhere. As the days rolled on he began to cook for himself, going out and buying fresh food alongside the cigarettes and whiskey. He debated whether or not to start exercising again but a short jog in the morning air answered that question for him. One thing that did niggle at the back of Seb’s mind throughout his planning phase was the fact that his phone hadn’t rung once. Home phone or mobile, nobody had contacted him. Not that this was overly strange, mainly because the only person who had rung him regularly was Joseph – and as he was currently MIA it was no wonder that the phone was silent. Then again, it was odd how KCPD hadn’t called him in for questioning yet. Not that Seb was enjoying the prospect of getting interrogating by some black tie duo, but he thought they would’ve caught up to him by now. There must’ve been a real amount of red tape tied to Beacon if they hadn’t thought to call him yet.

Sometimes Connelly would’ve called, but as he was dead the chances of that happening were slim to none. As Seb was thinking, he remembered that Kidman had also called him at home in recent times, albeit only once. She had called Seb really late about the first case she had been shadowing him and Joseph on. Strange that she had been up taking notes at that time, Seb had thought as he rolled over and tried to get back to sleep after answering Kidman’s questions. In hindsight Seb realised just how strange Kidman had been – was she even a police officer? Seb knew that she was involved in this somehow, she had to be. She had turned up after the fire and Myra’s disappearance, so she was more than likely linked to either of those. He was going to find out how.

It was on the twelfth day that Seb decided he would set off. He woke up, showered and packed his bag. He wouldn’t be gone for more than a few hours but he wanted to be sure he had everything. He packed his own personal pistol – there he no way he would be bringing a weapon that could be traced back to KCPD, and then him on something like this. He holstered it in the same place that Connelly’s revolver had sat all that time in the STEM, and that simple action got him thinking about his friend. About his family that would have to live without him now. The thought made tears come to Seb’s eyes – he knew he had to pay them a visit soon. He began to feel a wave of emotion build up inside him but he buried it. There was time for grief later. Mind on the task ahead, he told himself. Getting himself back on track, he packed four extra magazines for the pistol at 12 rounds each, plus the full one in the pistol already. He also packed his hunting knife and his & Myra’s sawn-off shotgun. She had been insistent that they had one because of their line of work – “for home defence” she had said - and they had made sure it was a decent one too. Metallic, rather light for its size and it packed one heck of a punch. Seb had nearly torn his shoulder out when they test fired it at the range the day they bought it. It took five shells in the chamber, so Seb packed another twenty into the bag alongside the pistol ammo. He threw in a pack of smokes, two lighters and hip flask of his favourite whiskey. More out of habit than anything else he took his mobile off charge and pocketed it. Not that he was expecting any calls – it was in case he needed to make a call out. As an afterthought he packed two bottles of water too, as well as some snacks in case he got hungry. He decided he had better dress like he was on duty despite not even being called in for questioning yet as to avoid suspicion, so he put on his work stuff and wore Myra’s coat over the top of it all. Before he left he packed two extra magazines into the inside pocket of the trenchcoat, as well as ten more shot shells scattered throughout the pockets for good measure. The lack of ammo inside the STEM hadn’t been a fun thing, and if Seb were to run into any trouble he would want to be prepared. What trouble would be get into though? Surely looking around an abandoned building doesn’t require so much ammo… Seb scoffed inwardly at the memory of being caught short in a firefight with many a suspect because his ammo ran out and he had to pick up another weapon instead. Hollywood was wrong, ammo does run out and he was as sure as anything going to make sure that it didn’t happen to him today. With one final check of the bag and the apartment he left and locked up, got into his car that KCPD had driven back to his on the first night he had been home and set off out. He drove through the city morning traffic with no sense of urgency – he didn’t have to worry about being anywhere at a particular time. He just drove.

Seb knew he had to go to Elk River but he didn’t expect to find the mansion there. It was too obvious and besides from what he could recall of Ruvik’s memory it wasn’t close enough to the town to warrant asking any locals. He figured he would drive through and go around the dirt roads until he came across the mansion; after all there weren’t that many roads leading out of Elk River so he just had to follow a process of elimination.

He seemed to drive on autopilot, the car taking him to where he needed to go. Before Seb had realised, he was driving down the main street through Elk River. It was too small a town for the road to be a town centre, the only amenities it had on offer were a torn up old shop, a small diner and a derelict Bank of America that looked like it belonged in the 1920s. As Seb pulled up at the stop light he saw a black sedan sitting out the front of the diner. It was taking up both of the only spaces available for clients – but it wasn’t like there was anyone who wanted to use the space. Seb could’ve counted the vehicles including his that he could see on one hand – it was five. His, the car parked in the diner spaces, a vehicle behind him in the queue and two more old pickup trucks parked further down the street. Just as the light turned green, two figures emerged from the diner. As Seb pulled away he looked at them in his rear view. Two men, one in body armour with an SMG, another in a suit who was blatantly concealing. The suit was on his phone, and the body armour was eating. He looked like he could eat a whole man and still be hungry. This guy was one of the biggest men Seb had ever seen, he easily topped 7’ yet he had such a small weapon that it was almost comical. His head was shaved and his mouth was huge. Well it looked huge because he was shoving a whole bagel in at once. The guy in the suit was of average build, but he had the unmistakeable look of someone who thought he was entitled to everything. Asshole. He was still on the phone, and he appeared to be shouting at whoever he was speaking to. As Seb pulled away he couldn’t hear but he could very well imagine what he was saying down the phone.

A situation like this wouldn’t have struck a normal person as odd, but to Seb it was very odd. First, what were those two goons doing in Elk River? Also, why the weaponry? He made a mental note to be cautious, things already seemed like they could heat up quickly. All the years of being on the force had given Seb a kind of sixth sense when it came to these things. It was like the day Myra got shot by that fleeing suspect – Seb had known it was going to happen but until he had fired a shot at them they couldn’t shoot at him. He pulled his gun out of nowhere and got Myra clean through the leg – that gave Seb license to unload on the guy – he was just gutted he had been unlucky and not hit him. How he had known Seb wasn’t sure, but he knew to trust his gut in situations like that and it hadn’t failed him yet.

Casting his mind away from events past, Seb focused on the road ahead. It was becoming more narrow, with a dirt track leading off to the left and another one slightly up the road to the right. 50/50 chance of success? The left one. Up the track he drove, and the car immediately started groaning. This track wasn’t much wider than the vehicle and it was very rocky. Plus the car was old. The hill was also getting steep so Seb took it down into a lower gear and hammered it up the hill as best he could. Eventually the ground flattened out into a clearing. But then the road stopped abruptly just short of the end of the clearing. Seb stopped the car, killed the engine and got out. Leaning on the driver’s side door, he grabbed his cigarettes and a lighter and got out his first of the day. He pocketed the packet with the remaining cigarettes in his shirt pocket. He lit his first of the day up and took a long deep drag. This gave Seb a moment so he had a think. Where did he go from here? He could either double back or continue on foot and see what was ahead. His gut instinct was telling him that he had to go ahead, but the trees and the woodland beyond looked eerily like something out the STEM so Seb wasn’t overly keen on the idea of going in there. Doubling back would mean turning the car around and nursing it down the hill he had come up to get here which wouldn’t be fun.

“Look at yourself, so gripped by indecision, how insane is this?” he muttered to himself between drags. He hadn’t been this indecisive before, so why now? In the back of his mind he knew, but he tried his best to ignore it. The fear of walking into that mansion made Seb feel sick inside, knowing what had taken place there  - what might still be there. But really, what choice did he have? If he wanted answers he had to get them from somewhere, and the mansion was the only realistic option open to him. He finished up his cigarette and ground it beneath his heel, getting back in the car and parking it out of sight. In case anyone came snooping around, it was better to leave his car somewhere safe and relatively hidden in case he needed to make a quick getaway. Grabbing his bag from where he had left it on the back seat, he slung it over his shoulder and began to walk into the woodland ahead of him. As he began to get deeper into the woods a silence crept over the world, like a blanket blocking out all noise. The only thing Seb could hear was the wind through the trees. It began to get stronger, flapping his trenchcoat around like it was trying to take off from Seb’s body. He pulled it tighter around himself and continued walking, the fear rising in his throat steadily. Just as Seb began to think he was lost, he saw ahead that the woodland began to thin out and disappear altogether. With renewed vigour he began to jog toward the edge when suddenly his ankle went out from underneath him. He landed sideways and felt his left ankle twist the wrong way. He lay there in an undignified heap, moaning slightly.

“Oh fuck, could this have started off any better? Ten minutes in and I’ve already injured myself…”

He got up slowly and tried to put some weight on his left foot. He immediately slumped to the ground again – he was pretty sure he had badly twisted or sprained his ankle. Fucking typical, he thought to himself. Fucking great. As he sat there rubbing his ankle and lamenting at his lack of good fortune, he heard sticks crunching a way back behind him. Not falling –this sounded just like someone was walking on them and snapping them underfoot. He immediately got to his feet, and unsteadily got himself leaning on a nearby tree to support himself, continued listening. The wind was blowing ever so slightly now, much calmer than it had been earlier. On the breeze that drifted downwind to Seb he could hear it clearly now. Someone was walking towards him. He listened more, and heard voices too. They were fuzzy and unclear due to the snapping but Seb knew that they belonged to men. Suddenly, they seemed to stop walking and converse in hushed but still audible tones;

“Fuck me, how much further is it? The mansion can’t be that far away, feels like we’ve been walking this way forever. Fucking trees, creep me out.”

“ _Shut up you wimp. Remember that walking through an area that looks the same seems to make time go slowly. We haven’t been going through here for more than five minutes, quit your bitching. We are here to take down Victoriano and apprehend the KCPD Detective Castellanos. We are NOT here to listen to your fucking whining about a nature walk. Either shut up and man up or I will put a bullet or ten into the back of your thick skull and leave you for the wolves. Understand?!”_

The silence said everything. Seb waited with baited breath, hoping they would say something else. Luckily, they did.

“Why are we after this guy anyway? I thought he didn’t know anything?”

A third voice now joined the conversation, a deep gravelly voice that sounded like it belonged to the de facto leader of the team.

“He might not  _know anything,_ but he may  _suspect something._  And that has given the bosses more than enough reason to bring him in. He survived the STEM machine with Victoriano inside it which means he is strong. We will either convert him to our cause or kill him. Either way, he will be reunited with his friends soon enough – the other detective is due to be transferred to our limbic experimentation unit and our agent Kidman is going to be out with the next field team approaching the manor from the other side. The administrator has decided that Castellanos is a threat worth neutralising so that is what we will do. Do you understand, 2?”

_“Yes sir, I understand.”_

“Good, now quit your whining before I let 3 do what he threatened. Okay, 1 – any sign of our man?”

Seb heard a fourth voice now, much younger than the rest.

_“No sir, but his tracks look like they’re leading right to the eastern side of the manor house, if we keep moving we should catch up with him soon enough.”_

“Good news indeed.” Growled the leader who Seb assumed was number four. “The other team should be in position soon, I’ll radio ahead and find out. In the meantime keep moving.”

The sound of sticks snapping again told Seb that 1,2 and 3 were on the move but he stayed still. The pain in his ankle forgotten, he crouched and listened to the voice talking on the radio.

_“5,6,7 and 8 are all in position and ready to go sir, on your mark.”_

“Brilliant, said 4. “1,2,3 and 4 are moving up into position now – I want you to take this nice and slow. We don’t know what is waiting for us up there but I am not taking any chances. 4 out.”

Seb heard the radio squawk once more, and then 4 began moving as well. He stayed still, processing what he had just overheard. First of all, Joseph was alive. Joseph WAS alive, but he was going to be transferred to an experimentation unit to no doubt be used like the patients in the hospital were. The thought of him being one of those poor victims made Seb’s blood boil inside him – he wouldn’t let that happen. Ever! He began to move, albeit slowly and quietly in the direction he had been heading before, taking care to not make any noise. He was out of the woods but that didn’t mean they still wouldn’t hear him if he wasn’t careful.

As Seb began to move, his mind wandered to Kidman. So, it seemed that she was alive and seemed to be working with this organisation that had Joseph. Somehow it all made sense to Seb now, how she had been so different and strange to him. In his journal he had described her as a ‘cold fish’ and he had a feeling that she wasn’t all she made out to be. Once again he had been proven right. And the fact that she was going to be joining the other field team meant that there were at least eight people with weapons converging on the place he was headed to. But why were they going there? They had mentioned Ruvik like he was still alive and not inside the STEM, but how could that be possible? Seb cast his mind back to the hospital and when he went outside after escaping STEM and remembered – the figure he thought he had seen had been Leslie!

He kicked himself mentally for not remembering sooner. But if Leslie had left the STEM then that meant that inside the STEM when Ruvik had absorbed him… OH FUCK. Seb’s head began to throb at the thought of Ruvik’s mind inside poor Leslie’s body. How would that kid be able to fight him off? He wouldn’t! Shit.

“So does that mean that Ruvik… is in this world?!” Seb asked himself in disbelief. He wasn’t sure of the answer but the very thought of it made his hair stand on end. The thought of facing off with Ruvik again, powers or no wasn’t something he ever wanted to do again. But if Ruvik was being hunted by these people then he wouldn’t be long for this world anyway. The chance of him retaining his abilities from the STEM were nil so he wouldn’t be much of a threat. Seb continued to move, grateful now for the weight of the backpack on his shoulder. After a few more minutes he saw the wall of the mansion up ahead, all crumbling and derelict. He came to a stop just below the mansions wall and unholstered his pistol. Putting the rucksack on properly, he held his pistol in front of him and slowly began to make his way round to the front of the building. He couldn’t see or hear the other team so that meant he way well still be ahead. As he approached the front of the building, he heard voices off to his right. The other team were obviously closer than he thought so he crouched down behind the left side of the fountain as they made their way to the door. Seb looked over the lip of the fountain and observed them.

They were all dressed in black, shiny chrome weapons glinting in the murky light of an overcast afternoon. They were silent, seemed to glide across the stony ground. There were lots of hand signals, and they all moved into position either side of the door. The figure who Seb assumed was the team leader made a fist and slammed it into his thigh and pointed at the door. Another one stood in front of the door and caved in the rotten wood with a powerful kick. After a few more kicks the door was all but hanging off its hinges, and the figure barged into it one last time. There was a brief pause, silence and then a tremendous BOOM! As the door came off its hinges there was a spectacular explosion from behind the door and it spat out a huge ball of flame, akin to a car exploding with a full tank of fuel. All four figures were immediately consumed by the flames, and they were thrown back. Directly into the fountain where Seb was hiding. Bits of flesh came raining down like water from the sky, and before he could blink the desiccated torso of the man Seb had identified as the leader slammed into the top of the fountain and landed face down. As Seb stood up to take in the horror around him, he felt sick. Blood was everywhere and coated everything with a ruby fluid that looked sticky. There were no screams, as none of the men had survived. There were bits of them everywhere, charred bits of flesh laying on the ground still smoking. Just in front of him lay part of the head of one of the men in black. His skull had been blown wide open, exposing his brain which in turn had bits of wood stuck into it, like shrapnel from a grenade. If he had survived he would’ve been a complete and utter vegetable. It was a sickening sight, fuck the whole scene was. But it was the smell that disgusted Seb the most. Burning flesh, just like the night of the fire. It made him keel over and throw up what little food he had inside of him. When he had finished retching, he looked over the scene one more time. The bloodied remains of one of the men’s helmets was at his feet, and it had red on the side that didn’t look like blood. On closer inspection, he realised it was the organisations logo.

It was three stars, to the right of them there was a line going left and then straight down into a point. Below this was written one word – MOBIUS. Where had he heard this word before? He knew he had, but he couldn’t be sure. No matter - Another piece of the puzzle put into place. Mobius had Joseph and Mobius was who Kidman was working for. They wanted to somehow kill Ruvik and capture Seb. Everything was connected. Seb took one last look at the scene of utter carnage around him and took a step inside the charred remains of the Victoriano mansion, leaving that world behind and descending yet again into a world of blood, fear and madness. But this time he was going in of his own free will – and he would come out on top. He would find the answers and get what he was looking for, and woe to anyone who was going to try and stand in his way.

 

 


	3. Madness Incarnate.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the ruins of the mansion, Seb falls deeper into the world that he tried so desperately to escape. Confronted with fire and death, is there a way out? Or is this truly the end for Seb and his hunt for the truth?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Violence ahead, lots of violence.

** Chapter 3 – Madness Incarnate. **

As he stepped foot inside the burnt out remains of that once proud place, Seb’s hair immediately stood to attention. Something wasn’t right. Maybe it was something to do with the bomb that had been attached to the front door, or the fact that there were signs of recent human habitation – but either way it wasn’t right. There were tins scattered around the place, and he could smell something strong – booze. There was no mistaking that smell – cheap and dirty vodka, more likely to give you liver failure than a hangover due to the amount of pure poison that is added to it – and that’s without the alcohol!

The aroma of cheap booze seemed to permeate everything, like the smell of Seb after one of his marathon sex sessions in his younger days. No matter what you did, the smell never completely left. As Seb looked around the entrance hall, he noticed two things. Firstly, the place looked like it was laid out in the exact same way as it had been in the STEM. Something good did come out of that infernal device, Seb mused. The second thing that he noticed was that everything was burnt. Burnt beyond saving – but everything was still standing. Apart from the banisters on the staircases and a couple of doors, everything was still largely intact. Seb tried to remember the layout of the place, and thought about where he should go first. However he never got around to making that decision because he heard shouts coming from outside. Snapping out of his reverie, he remembered the team of agents that were apparently out to get him. Despite the fact that their comrades lay dead outside, Seb knew that it wouldn’t slow them down much – if at all. He didn’t feel like taking on a team of angry men who all had military spec armour and weapons – not unless he had a real advantage. He had an idea, and followed the smell of cheap vodka. He went through the door to the left and into the dining room, passing through until he was in what remained of the kitchen area. There in the corner by the remains of the stove, was a mattress. And on that mattress lay a snoring, wasted wino. Seb almost felt sorry for the guy, he was going to wake up to a lot of noise, that was for certain.

He listened more, and heard a commotion. It sounded a lot like they had found the remains of the previous team. Seb mentally thanked whoever had placed that trap – it gave him a much higher chance of survival. Sensing that he had not much time left, Seb knelt down in front of the sleeping wino and with his free hand prised the half empty bottle of vodka from his grip. Seb looked at the bottle – he couldn’t read the label as it was so covered in grime and dirt –and took a swig. The liquid burnt his throat and made him cough, but most of all he could taste the added alcohol. It would seem this wino had made his own, stronger version of the brew. Seb could use that. He holstered his pistol for a moment and grabbed a blanket that was laying on the floor next to its inebriated owner. Tearing a strip off and putting most of it inside the bottle, Seb tilted it upside down for a moment holding his hand over the top so nothing would spill out. Turning it back up rightways, he admired the homemade Molotov. Turns out those days in New Jersey HAD paid off after all. Smirking to himself, he grabbed the lighter out of his pocket and crept back towards the entrance hall. As he reached the dining room he chanced a look around the corner and saw a few shadows in the dim light. They were close. He got closer and saw that they were moving towards his position – two were taking the lead while the other two were scouting around under the staircases. He waited until the first two were in the doorway and then lit the Molotov. He waited for a second more, took a deep breath and stepped out into the open.

"Hey, catch this".

He could only imagine the looks on their faces as he stepped out of nowhere clutching a Molotov in his hand. With a feeling of satisfaction that Seb knew he shouldn’t have, he threw it at the ground right in front of the two agents. The fire spread quickly, consuming both men and the doorframe – if the others wanted to have a go at him, they would have to get past a veritable wall of flames and the other two human torches – Seb felt safe, for the moment anyway. Suddenly, he was knocked off his feet and sent sprawling to the ground as a mass thudded into his midriff and tackled him to the ground knocking the breath out of his body. As Seb looked up he saw the wino from the kitchen. He was breathing heavily and held an old revolver in a shaky, sweaty hand. He obviously didn’t realise what was happening, all his attention was focused on Seb and the replacement of his precious bottle of booze. He levelled his revolver at Seb’s head, and shouted above the screams of the burning men;

“Give me back my bottle, you…”

Seb could imagine what the last word was, but he never heard it as a wave of gunfire went out and a stream of bullets thudded into the poor man. He buckled and screamed as his body was torn asunder by automatic weaponry but he didn’t fall. Seb saw an opportunity and seized it. Unholstering his pistol in one smooth motion, he grabbed the dying wino and used him as a human shield. Yelling at the top of his lungs, Seb discharged four rounds into the nearest man who wasn’t burning. Blood flew high and bright as Seb’s shots took him in the neck and chest, dropping him to the ground like a tonne of bricks. All the while more bullets were being deflected by the now lifeless body of the wino who was now deadweight to Seb. Abandoning his bloody shield, he doubled back to the kitchen feeling bullets hiss past just above his head. As he took cover behind the door, he took the backpack off and grabbed the shotgun out of the top. Not bothering to aim, he waited until the man in black ran in and unloaded two shells into his back at point blank range. The force of the shot threw him into the far wall where he lay motionless. Seb pumped the shotgun again and walked over to the body, ready to fire again if he tried to play dead like those fuckers in the STEM had. But there was no movement, just the steady puddle of blood forming underneath the mass of flesh that Seb had just torn apart. This one was dead, he was sure of that.

A barrage of gunfire suddenly ripped into the wall beside Seb, who dived as far away as he could. Turning to face the gunman, he saw a sight which he knew he wouldn’t forget. The agent standing in front of him was black as night, his flesh was peeling from his face and by all rights should have been dead. But he was still standing. Seb fired once into the guy’s neck and he saw it explode, the shot landing square on the windpipe and shredding through, essentially beheading the guy. Who dropped down, this time not getting back up. He took a deep breath, looking at the scene of carnage around him. The smell of burnt flesh was back, and it made Seb’s throat burn as he retched involuntarily again. Once he was done, he got down to the business of restocking. He went to the man by the far wall and relieved him of his weapon. After all he wasn’t going to need it anytime soon!

  
Taking off his trenchcoat, Seb emptied the pockets and tucked it away inside the door of the ruined oven. It might get dirty in there but it wasn’t clean anyway, plus it would hinder his movement. But damn it did look cool.

He looted the guy who he had shot in the back, as it was his gear that wasn’t burnt or had holes in. First was his ammo belt – more than enough room for the extra magazines and shells that had been inside Seb’s trenchcoat. On closer look Seb found a grenade in a side pouch – that would come in handy! He debated whether or not to take the assault rifle, but decided that it was too much weight for now, plus he shouldn’t have a reason to need such a big weapon. He checked the magazine and saw that it was nearly full. So about 20 or so shots left? It could be useful. Still, he stashed the man-with-no-back’s rifle in the oven along with his trenchcoat. Good getaway plan in case he needed it.

Taking the sling off the rifle of the burned man, Seb made a makeshift sling for his shotgun and slung it across his back. If he needed it all he had to do was reach for it. Going into his bag, Seb grabbed all the extra ammo he had packed and put it into the pouches. There was more than enough room for what he had brought along with him, which Seb viewed as a very fortunate thing. He even found a place for the water on his person too but he had to eat the food now else it would have to be left behind. Seb wolfed down the snack foods as fast as he could, not even taking the time to chew properly. As an afterthought, he reloaded the nearly empty shotgun and checked his pistol too. Eight rounds left in the first magazine. As he did one last check to make sure the bag was empty, he realised he had nearly forgotten his hip flask. That immediately went into the pouch alongside the grenade he had found. The familiar feel of it comforted Seb, but was soon forgotten under the weight of the ammo he now had to carry. Doing a mental count, he realised he was carrying just shy of 80 rounds of handgun ammo and about 25 of shotgun ammo, not counting the ones he had reloaded the shotgun with. That was a lot of weight. But deep down, Seb knew that he might well need it all before the day was out if it continued like this.

Not wanting to hang around with the burning smell anymore, Seb left the kitchen and headed to the entrance hall. Going up the stairs, he stopped just outside the door to the library. Hearing nothing on the other side he entered, and looked around. The library looked like it had in the STEM, just more burned and without the haunted who had tried to butcher him numerous times. As he went up to the desk that was strewn with paperwork, he spotted a file with the MOBIUS logo on it. He grabbed it and looked through it almost frantically, hoping against hope to find something to tell him about his friends or Myra. But it was merely Ruvik’s plans and ideas for the STEM – it was talking about different ways it could be operated. One way mentioned a ‘plug’ into the back of the brain and another about a ‘wireless transmitter that works at a high frequency’. So just like the noise he heard in the STEM? Was that the noise he was hearing, him being re-attuned?

His thoughts were interrupted by a noise from down the hall towards the bedrooms – a mournful, wailing sound that saddened Seb to his very core. He seemed to walk entranced, still holding the file in his hand as he walked down the hall and stopped outside what was Laura Victoriano’s bedroom. The noise was coming from that room, Seb was sure of it. He didn’t want to get caught off guard, so he grabbed his pistol and listened at the door for a beat. The noise was a mixture of wailing and crying, a wracking sob similar to the one Seb had done when he had broken down on the EMT just outside of Beacon. The voice was saying something between sobs, but Seb couldn’t make it out. He went to open the door, but hesitated. The familiar feeling of fear crept up his neck, immobilising him. Who, or what could be behind this door? The whole family were dead and the only inhabitant of recent times was now dead in the dining room thanks to Seb – so whoever or whatever was making the noise was to be treated with a high degree of hostility. Taking a deep breath, Seb went to kick the door in – but remembering what had happened at the front door decided that wasn’t the best approach. Instead he opened the door slowly to ensure it wasn’t trapped. When he was satisfied that it wasn’t he open the door fully and crept in, his pistol trained on the figure who was kneeling by the bed.

It was a small person, someone who was evidently very troubled. They were grabbing the soiled bedsheets and hitting their head against the bedframe, saying three words over and over again.

“Pain. Laura. Stop!”

Sebastian’s heart caught in his throat, he recognised that voice anywhere by now. He knew who it was. Leslie Withers, the boy who was special, the boy who had survived being linked to Ruvik, the boy who had somehow evaded over 30 officers to escape from Beacon undetected. Declared missing at the scene, nobody had found him yet. Well, nobody until now.

  
“Leslie, is that you? It’s me, Sebastia…Errr… Detective Castellanos. I'm here to help you.”

  
“Help you, help you, help you...”

Seb put his hand on the kid’s shoulder and said it again. Leslie turned his head so he was looking at Seb. He had a pained expression on his face and tears were streaming down his cheeks onto his hospital issue clothes. The soles of his feet looked cut and raw, there were bald patches where he had evidently pulled his hair out in a frenzy. What could have caused this? Then Seb remembered the words of the agents earlier on. Ruvik had somehow survived. What if…?

  
The idea was too horrible to comprehend, and as Seb looked into Leslie’s albino eyes he saw no hint of the evil that lurked within, the monster just hiding behind the surface – but why would he? If Ruvik was in there he would hide, let Seb think he hadn’t escaped. But Seb wasn’t going to take any chances. Quick as a flash, the cold hard muzzle of his pistol was trained on the front of Leslie’s head. Leslie didn’t scream or cry now, he stopped and looked at Sebastian, almost expecting him to pull the trigger. Then again, maybe he would – it would be a mercy, after all. Seb spoke to Leslie in a calm yet authoritative tone;

“Okay Leslie, I need you to do something for me. I am going to ask you a question, and I want the truth. If you give me the truth I can help you.”

“Help you, help you, help you…”

“Where is Ruvik, Leslie? Is he inside your head?” Seb asked.

Leslie didn't reply, just started shaking and screaming like his head was being split in two. Seb shouted again “I said, where is Ruvik Leslie? Is he inside your head?” but he got nothing, instead the screaming got louder. Seb cocked the hammer of his pistol and held it firm against Leslie’s forehead, an unknown force from within willing him to pull the trigger…

“WHERE IS RUVIK LESLIE? TELL ME NOW OR I WON’T HELP YOU!”

Sebastian roared as Leslie’s screaming reached a fever pitch. It carried on, getting louder still and Leslie looked at Seb and back to the gun that was held against his head. He screamed and clutched his head, then all of a sudden he stopped screaming. His eyes widened and he began to mutter in hushed tones.

“Help me, help you, help us.”

He repeated this over and over, his eyes widening more. His voice was so wracked with emotion that it made Seb feel sorry for the poor kid. Speaking at a volume similar to that of Leslie’s, he asked;

“Leslie, do you know where Ruvik is?”

Leslie looked up at Sebastian with those wide albino eyes, giving him such a sad look that it made Seb lower his gun.

“I’m right here Sebastian.”

Leslie replied. But it wasn’t Leslie that spoke. It was a different voice, the same but different – no speech issues, no repetition – it came out as one sentence, so cohesive and natural it was almost beautiful. But the voice had a sharpness to it that Seb recognised all too well, the voice that had tormented him all that time in the STEM. The voice of the man who had made the STEM his very own twisted reality, the man who had killed countless innocent people for his own gain. The man who should have been dead and rotting alongside the STEM project. It was impossible, surely – but regardless, it was real. Seb’s worst fears had materialised and been given flesh. But worst of all, it meant Ruvik was now here in this world!

Frozen to the spot, Seb was powerless to defend himself. Suddenly hands were against his throat, closing round and choking him. Seb tried to aim and fire his pistol but Ruvik/Leslie slammed his head against the wall with such force it made his head spin and drop his pistol, he tried to claw at it’s eyes instead in an attempt to get free but his arms became dead weights, all the while he could breathe less and less, he was fighting for his life and he was losing. As the blackness began to creep into his field of vision, all he could see was the face of Leslie smiling Ruvik’s cold, sadistic smile that he only saw when he knew he was getting a thrill. Seb’s mind drifted back to the first time he had seen and conversed with Ruvik in the STEM, and what Ruvik had said to him;

“I know who you are, ‘Seb’. I know what you crave, what you fear… Will you be able to live with yourself knowing what I’m going to make you do? You’re mine… to do with as I please.”

As all light left the world and darkness consumed him, these words were echoing in Seb’s mind. A small part of him was glad it would be over soon; glad that he would finally be reunited with Lily and Myra. As everything faded to black around him, Seb could see their faces in front of him, and they were both smiling.


	4. Tearing the spark from his eyes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things couldn't get worse, but invariably they do...
> 
> Once again, please have patience. Still working on this, life has put things on hold so it's like a development hel - I'll update when I can. Feedback please :)

_As darkness reigns supreme and the breath leaves his body, his brain still fights. He can feel the fear probing, looking for a way inside his head to render him helpless for the final strike. But he isn’t done yet, not by any stretch._

It was their faces that did it. Seeing the smiling faces of the only two real loves in his life reminded him of what he had to lose – of what would happen if he didn’t find out the truth. The face of his beautiful smiling daughter; turned to ash on a breezy summer’s evening. The face of his wife, all bloodied and disfigured from her time spent too close to the truth, stomped beneath the boot of MOBIUS and the STEM. If he died now he would never give them the closure they deserved… and they would never stop plaguing him until he knew everything.

He could hear the grunting of the body that was squeezing the life from him, hear the effort of the man who was the vessel fighting back against the evil within, trying to regain control. Conflict was obviously internal – This was his chance. In a last ditch attempt at freedom, he punched right where he knew Leslie’s temple would be. Impact, and he grunted and his grip loosened so that Seb managed to get half a lungful of air. Fighting like a drowning man just below the waterline, he sensed victory and punched again. This time there was a loud crack and the hands disappeared from round his neck, dropping him onto his knees. As his vision began to slowly return, he saw his assailant in front of him clutching his head. Blood was running in rivulets down his forearms and seeping through his fingers like water running down glass. Taking no chances, he grabbed his throat with one hand and pulled his hunting knife from its sheath and rammed it up against his throat with the other, pressing it hard so that when he spoke it drew blood.

_“Sebastian, Sebastian, hurts, hurts…”_

He whimpered as the knife bit hungrily into his flesh, taking its due in crimson droplets that ran off the blade and onto the hilt. As he saw the fear in the albino’s eyes, he realised that Ruvik didn’t have complete control. Leslie had proven that he was strong by being able to synchronise his mind with Ruvik and live, therefore it would stand to reason that Ruvik hadn’t pushed him out yet. Still, the thought of the internal battle made Sebastian feel a pang of pity for the kid, made his give some pause.

He lessened the force of the knife but didn’t stop holding his throat. After that little display he didn’t want to get caught off guard again. Sebastian stared into Leslie’s eyes again, looking for a hint of Ruvik. As he watched, he saw the fear slowly disappear and was replaced with a harsh grey tint that looked directly through Sebastian piercing through to his very core. Ruvik had surfaced, and for the purpose of this conversation Sebastian needed him to stay where he was.

Slowly he let go of Ruvik’s neck, lowering the knife and sheathing it. With his free hand he grabbed his pistol and levelled it at Ruvik, cocking the hammer back as a sign that he wouldn’t take another second to blow his brains all over his beloved sisters bed. A silence crept between them, threatening to engulf them both. Eventually, it was Ruvik who spoke in his gravelly, malevolent tones.

_“Hello, ‘Seb’. You look like you’ve seen a ghost”._

 A smile crept up his lips, his eyes shining with some kind of sick pleasure at the look of pure fear etched onto Sebastian’s face. His dark grey eyes never left the Detective, drinking it all in – the fear, the way he stood, the way his body was tensed and ready for action – it was absolutely… Delicious.

Seb was absolutely speechless. It normally took a great deal to reduce him to this; down at the precinct he was always the guy with a sarcastic retort back, with an answer for everything. It either endeared his colleagues to him or made them dislike him straightaway. But Seb didn’t care – he wasn’t there to win a popularity contest.

“Impossible… It can’t be you, you died, I killed you. You’re…”

_“Dead? I think not. It would be wonderful for me to bring you up to speed of the how and why of things Sebastian, but right now is nor the time or place for a discussion. We are being watched, hunted. My betrayal by Jimenez has manifested itself again and doubtless there are more people en route to finish what the others downstairs couldn’t finish.”_

With that he walked toward the door, without so much as a backward glance. As he reached the hallway he turned on his heel and looked at Seb, as if he was expecting him to say something. When silence greeted him he turned tail and walked out of view down the corridor. Seb ran to catch him up, breathless and shaking as adrenaline coursed through his body again. How the fuck was he still alive? How and why? So many questions were running around inside his head but he knew there was no time for answers. As they reached the landing, Seb heard loud voices – Ruvik had been right – more were coming. He shouted a warning but didn’t bother to look if Ruvik had hidden - he barely had time to get behind cover himself before the gunfire ripped through the room, bullets desperate to find their mark.

There must’ve been a few gunmen as the rate of fire was chewing through available cover very quickly.  Seb waited until the fire died down and he knew that some of them would be reloading and ran across the landing back into the library, sliding parkour style across the big wooden table that lay in the middle of the floor he pulled it over, scattering paperwork he had been sifting through earlier. His mind was focused, there were no other thoughts. Just survive. He waited until he saw shapes emerging from the doorway and opened fire. As one fell down in a bloody heap, more came. Seb barely had time to reload before they were on him again, they were so close when he gunned them down he could see their eyes through their googles of their helmets. Man after man fell down, and just as Seb was about to run out of ammo altogether the firing and shouting stopped. As the silence fell on the scene, Seb viewed this latest carnage. Bodies were piled atop of each other in both doorways, black clad men and black weapons all piled in a lump where they had fallen. Seb went over and began to check bodies for any evidence or clues, see if he could piece something together out of this mayhem.

 

There was nothing of note, nobody had anything on them except the occasional cigarette packet or other miscellaneous item. Strange, surely they’d have some kind of personal object on them? They can’t be that bland, like a blank slate surely? As he asked himself that question, he heard a noise from downstairs. It was a voice and it was very very angry. Seb crept to the door and peeked round the corner into the entrance hall, well what was left of it anyway. The Victoriano mansion was nothing but ash and lead now, the only thing that was constant about the place was the taste of copper in the air.

The voice seemed to be off, coming from the music room. Sensing danger, Seb holstered his pistol and grabbed his shotgun – he had more ammo for the latter and wasn’t concerned about accuracy if he got the drop on whoever was shouting. As he rounded the corner into the music room he saw one of the gunmen punching a man who was doing his best to stand up. Seb could tell from this distance it was Ruvik but he didn’t go to help him. Not yet – he wanted him to suffer a bit first. Not a hint of remorse was felt – he was going to make Ruvik suffer, even if it was only a little bit. The thing that made him actually realise the situation was more volatile than that was when the gunman started blowing holes in the wall behind Ruvik and shouting "the next one is going to be in your fucking head Withers, where is the cop?!".

Seb didn’t waste any time, as soon as he knew Ruvik could see him and was moving out of harms way, he fired. Twice, both shots obliterating the angry gunman. He fell down without a word, lifeless and bloodless as his lifeforce wept into the dark wooden floor. Seb walked over towards Ruvik where he had crouched In the corner of the room by his safe; he knew he had to check if he was alright.

Suddenly, the air was knocked out of his lungs and a burning pain seared across the left side of his neck. Thrown to the floor like a ragdoll, Seb tried to breathe but he couldn’t. Every breath brought up more blood and less air; he couldn’t move either because it was so damn painful. He knew with an unusual amount of indifference that he had been shot at least three times at close range; not many people could survive that even with body armour. If that was the case then that meant he was dying right. ‘What a place to die’ he thought nonchalantly as he felt the warm liquid seeping into his clothes and soaking the floor.

The cruel irony of the situation was laughable – him dying in real life in the same place he had fought for his life so hard in the STEM world. Seb began to laugh out loud - a hacking, mirthless laugh that hinted at the damage smoking had done with time but the stabbing pain in his chest stopped him, reducing him to a wheezinh mass. He began to take in less and less air, losing consciousness and thought. He was barely aware of the reports of gunfire around him, of screaming as a body was torn asunder. He didn’t feel the cold, bloody hand drag him but the collar of his shirt and pull him into another secret corner of the mansion he didn’t realise had existed before. As his vision began to blur he could just make out a small figure walking backwards dragging him in one hand and holding a rifle in the other. He could hear grunting and moaning as his saviour struggled to pull his deadweight to safety. As his brain began to shut down he could just hear someone speaking to him, but he couldn’t make out what. All turned black, and there was an eternal silence.


	5. Tearing the spark from his eyes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things couldn't get worse, but invariably they do...
> 
> Once again, please have patience. Still working on this, life has put things on hold so it's like a development hel - I'll update when I can. Feedback please :)

_As darkness reigns supreme and the breath leaves his body, his brain still fights. He can feel the fear probing, looking for a way inside his head to render him helpless for the final strike. But he isn’t done yet, not by any stretch._

It was their faces that did it. Seeing the smiling faces of the only two real loves in his life reminded him of what he had to lose – of what would happen if he didn’t find out the truth. The face of his beautiful smiling daughter; turned to ash on a breezy summer’s evening. The face of his wife, all bloodied and disfigured from her time spent too close to the truth, stomped beneath the boot of MOBIUS and the STEM. If he died now he would never give them the closure they deserved… and they would never stop plaguing him until he knew everything.

He could hear the grunting of the body that was squeezing the life from him, hear the effort of the man who was the vessel fighting back against the evil within, trying to regain control. Conflict was obviously internal – This was his chance. In a last ditch attempt at freedom, he punched right where he knew Leslie’s temple would be. Impact, and he grunted and his grip loosened so that Seb managed to get half a lungful of air. Fighting like a drowning man just below the waterline, he sensed victory and punched again. This time there was a loud crack and the hands disappeared from round his neck, dropping him onto his knees. As his vision began to slowly return, he saw his assailant in front of him clutching his head. Blood was running in rivulets down his forearms and seeping through his fingers like water running down glass. Taking no chances, he grabbed his throat with one hand and pulled his hunting knife from its sheath and rammed it up against his throat with the other, pressing it hard so that when he spoke it drew blood.

_“Sebastian, Sebastian, hurts, hurts…”_

He whimpered as the knife bit hungrily into his flesh, taking its due in crimson droplets that ran off the blade and onto the hilt. As he saw the fear in the albino’s eyes, he realised that Ruvik didn’t have complete control. Leslie had proven that he was strong by being able to synchronise his mind with Ruvik and live, therefore it would stand to reason that Ruvik hadn’t pushed him out yet. Still, the thought of the internal battle made Sebastian feel a pang of pity for the kid, made his give some pause.

He lessened the force of the knife but didn’t stop holding his throat. After that little display he didn’t want to get caught off guard again. Sebastian stared into Leslie’s eyes again, looking for a hint of Ruvik. As he watched, he saw the fear slowly disappear and was replaced with a harsh grey tint that looked directly through Sebastian piercing through to his very core. Ruvik had surfaced, and for the purpose of this conversation Sebastian needed him to stay where he was.

Slowly he let go of Ruvik’s neck, lowering the knife and sheathing it. With his free hand he grabbed his pistol and levelled it at Ruvik, cocking the hammer back as a sign that he wouldn’t take another second to blow his brains all over his beloved sisters bed. A silence crept between them, threatening to engulf them both. Eventually, it was Ruvik who spoke in his gravelly, malevolent tones.

_“Hello, ‘Seb’. You look like you’ve seen a ghost”._

 A smile crept up his lips, his eyes shining with some kind of sick pleasure at the look of pure fear etched onto Sebastian’s face. His dark grey eyes never left the Detective, drinking it all in – the fear, the way he stood, the way his body was tensed and ready for action – it was absolutely… Delicious.

Seb was absolutely speechless. It normally took a great deal to reduce him to this; down at the precinct he was always the guy with a sarcastic retort back, with an answer for everything. It either endeared his colleagues to him or made them dislike him straightaway. But Seb didn’t care – he wasn’t there to win a popularity contest.

“Impossible… It can’t be you, you died, I killed you. You’re…”

_“Dead? I think not. It would be wonderful for me to bring you up to speed of the how and why of things Sebastian, but right now is nor the time or place for a discussion. We are being watched, hunted. My betrayal by Jimenez has manifested itself again and doubtless there are more people en route to finish what the others downstairs couldn’t finish.”_

With that he walked toward the door, without so much as a backward glance. As he reached the hallway he turned on his heel and looked at Seb, as if he was expecting him to say something. When silence greeted him he turned tail and walked out of view down the corridor. Seb ran to catch him up, breathless and shaking as adrenaline coursed through his body again. How the fuck was he still alive? How and why? So many questions were running around inside his head but he knew there was no time for answers. As they reached the landing, Seb heard loud voices – Ruvik had been right – more were coming. He shouted a warning but didn’t bother to look if Ruvik had hidden - he barely had time to get behind cover himself before the gunfire ripped through the room, bullets desperate to find their mark.

There must’ve been a few gunmen as the rate of fire was chewing through available cover very quickly.  Seb waited until the fire died down and he knew that some of them would be reloading and ran across the landing back into the library, sliding parkour style across the big wooden table that lay in the middle of the floor he pulled it over, scattering paperwork he had been sifting through earlier. His mind was focused, there were no other thoughts. Just survive. He waited until he saw shapes emerging from the doorway and opened fire. As one fell down in a bloody heap, more came. Seb barely had time to reload before they were on him again, they were so close when he gunned them down he could see their eyes through their googles of their helmets. Man after man fell down, and just as Seb was about to run out of ammo altogether the firing and shouting stopped. As the silence fell on the scene, Seb viewed this latest carnage. Bodies were piled atop of each other in both doorways, black clad men and black weapons all piled in a lump where they had fallen. Seb went over and began to check bodies for any evidence or clues, see if he could piece something together out of this mayhem.

 

There was nothing of note, nobody had anything on them except the occasional cigarette packet or other miscellaneous item. Strange, surely they’d have some kind of personal object on them? They can’t be that bland, like a blank slate surely? As he asked himself that question, he heard a noise from downstairs. It was a voice and it was very very angry. Seb crept to the door and peeked round the corner into the entrance hall, well what was left of it anyway. The Victoriano mansion was nothing but ash and lead now, the only thing that was constant about the place was the taste of copper in the air.

The voice seemed to be off, coming from the music room. Sensing danger, Seb holstered his pistol and grabbed his shotgun – he had more ammo for the latter and wasn’t concerned about accuracy if he got the drop on whoever was shouting. As he rounded the corner into the music room he saw one of the gunmen punching a man who was doing his best to stand up. Seb could tell from this distance it was Ruvik but he didn’t go to help him. Not yet – he wanted him to suffer a bit first. Not a hint of remorse was felt – he was going to make Ruvik suffer, even if it was only a little bit. The thing that made him actually realise the situation was more volatile than that was when the gunman started blowing holes in the wall behind Ruvik and shouting "the next one is going to be in your fucking head Withers, where is the cop?!".

Seb didn’t waste any time, as soon as he knew Ruvik could see him and was moving out of harms way, he fired. Twice, both shots obliterating the angry gunman. He fell down without a word, lifeless and bloodless as his lifeforce wept into the dark wooden floor. Seb walked over towards Ruvik where he had crouched In the corner of the room by his safe; he knew he had to check if he was alright.

Suddenly, the air was knocked out of his lungs and a burning pain seared across the left side of his neck. Thrown to the floor like a ragdoll, Seb tried to breathe but he couldn’t. Every breath brought up more blood and less air; he couldn’t move either because it was so damn painful. He knew with an unusual amount of indifference that he had been shot at least three times at close range; not many people could survive that even with body armour. If that was the case then that meant he was dying right. ‘What a place to die’ he thought nonchalantly as he felt the warm liquid seeping into his clothes and soaking the floor.

The cruel irony of the situation was laughable – him dying in real life in the same place he had fought for his life so hard in the STEM world. Seb began to laugh out loud - a hacking, mirthless laugh that hinted at the damage smoking had done with time but the stabbing pain in his chest stopped him, reducing him to a wheezinh mass. He began to take in less and less air, losing consciousness and thought. He was barely aware of the reports of gunfire around him, of screaming as a body was torn asunder. He didn’t feel the cold, bloody hand drag him but the collar of his shirt and pull him into another secret corner of the mansion he didn’t realise had existed before. As his vision began to blur he could just make out a small figure walking backwards dragging him in one hand and holding a rifle in the other. He could hear grunting and moaning as his saviour struggled to pull his deadweight to safety. As his brain began to shut down he could just hear someone speaking to him, but he couldn’t make out what. All turned black, and there was an eternal silence.


End file.
